10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2008
9. Shelton Benjamin Should’ve Been Pushed
...and pushed properly.
WWE shifted Shelty B from ECW to SmackDown in the 2008 Draft, then stuck the United States Title on him at the Great American Bash in July. Benjamin went from that straight into a dazzling bout with Jeff Hardy (he'd beaten Matt at the Bash) on the 15 August SmackDown that’s honestly worth seeing. It ended via DQ due to interference from MVP, but it was really, really good.
Overall, Shelton deserved to be pushed to the moon in this era, but it was never deemed necessary. Who knows why? Dude was and still is super talented, but he was always kinda deemed at that Christian level without the level of success 'Captain Charisma' would eventually experience. WWE just didn't fancy it with Benjamin, for whatever reason.
Realistically, he should’ve been pushed ahead of someone like Kozlov. That's not meant to be a dig at big Vlad by any means, because there's some surprising praise coming his way in this very article, but come on now. Who would you rather see work? Kozlov or Shelton Benjamin? It's a bit of a no-brainer.
WWE bosses had already scrapped one Shelty push a few years before this, and his SmackDown run here sandwiched a few ECW stints that felt like a total waste of his skills. Sure, those who did take the time to check out Extremely Crappy Wrestling likely saw some fine enough matches, but binging '08 makes it clear that he had way more to offer than scrapping with the ragtag bunch there.